The Battle of Blair Mountain, — is the largest insurrection in U.S. history since the Civil War.
For about a week, nearing the end of August and early September 1921, in Logan County, West Virginia, between 10,000 and 15,000 coal miners challenged company-paid private detectives in an effort to unionize the southwestern West Virginia mine counties. Unionization had thrived elsewhere as part of a demographic boom which was triggered by the extension of the railroad and was characterized by unprecedented immigrant hiring and exploitation in the region. This particular battle was the decisive act in a series of violent clashes that have also been termed the Redneck War, from the color of bandannas worn by the miners around their necks for friend-or-foe identification.
Cabell Testerman, the mayor of the independent town of Matewan was one supporter of the union cause. He appointed 27-year-old Sid 
Hatfield as town sheriff. [10] As a teenager, Hatfield had worked in the coalmines, and was sympathetic to the miners’ condition. He also claimed to be a member of the notorious Hatfield family of the Hatfield and McCoy “feud”, but was not. These men provided union organizers an opportunity to gain a foothold, and unionizing accelerated rapidly in the county.[11] Tensions had been simmering for years, but the catalyst for the uprising was the murder of Sid Hatfield, police chief of Matewan, on the steps of the McDowell County courthouse in Welch in July 1921 by agents of the Baldwin-Felts private detective agency. Hatfield had been a valuable supporter of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and their efforts to unionize the mines. Hatfield’s death enraged the miners, and they began to pour out of the mountains to take arms.
The first skirmishes occurred on the morning of August 25, 1921. The bulk of the miners were still 15 miles away. The following day, President Warren Harding threatened to send in federal troops and Army Martin MB-1 bombers. After a long meeting in the town of Madison, the seat of Boone County, agreements were made convincing the miners to return home. However, the struggle was far from over. After spending days to assemble his private army, Chafin was not going to be denied his battle to end union attempts at organizing Logan County coal mines. Within hours of the Madison decision, reports came in that Sheriff Chafin’s men were deliberately shooting union sympathizers in the town of Sharples, West Virginia just north of Blair Mountain—and that families had been caught in crossfire during the skirmishes. Infuriated, the miners turned back towards Blair Mountain, many traveling in stolen and commandeered trains.
By August 29, battle was fully joined. Chafin’s men, though outnumbered, had the advantage of higher positions and better weaponry. Private planes were hired to drop homemade bombs on the miners. A combination of gas and explosive bombs left over from the fighting in World War I were dropped in several locations near the towns of Jeffery, Sharples and Blair. Up to 30 deaths were reported by Chafin’s side and 50-100 on the union miners side, with many hundreds more injured. By September 2, federal troops had arrived. Realizing he would lose a lot of good miners if the battle continued with the military, union leader Bill Blizzard passed the word for the miners to start heading home the following day. Miners fearing jail and confiscation of their guns, found clever ways to hide rifles and hand guns in the woods before leaving Logan County. Collectors and researchers to this day are still finding weapons.
Following the battle, 985 miners were indicted for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to murder, and treason against the State of West Virginia. Though some were acquitted by sympathetic juries, many were also imprisoned for a number of years, though they were paroled in 1925.
Although this conflict was the second largest rebellion in America, next to the Civil War, this battle has been largely forgotten.
REFRENCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
10. ^ a b Shogan 2004, page 13
11. ^ Savage 1990, page 12
Editor Jessica Asenjo
